One goal is to expand the current range of university scholarship to include research that goes beyond “social inquiry,” and serves as a catalyst for real change and action within our communities.

The CCBRN also believes that community-based research is a unique tool for preparing students for lives of civic engagement and social responsibility. It allows them to apply the skills and knowledge gained in the classroom in situations that expand their understanding of the world, increasing their commitment to our democratic society.

Community-based research (CBR) is guided by three principles:
* CBR is a collaborative enterprise between academic researchers (professors and students) and community members.
* CBR validates multiple sources of knowledge and promotes the use of multiple methods of discovery and of dissemination of the knowledge produced.
* CBR has as its goal social action and social change for the purpose of achieving social justice.
(Strand, Marullo, Cutforth, Stoecker and Donohue, Community-Based Research: Principles for Higher Education, May 2003)